ANTHONY (BOBBY) TSOTSOBEImprisoned for Life (Original biographical information included with his bracelet in 1985)

Anthony Tsotsobe was tried in the Pretoria Supreme Court in 1981 along with David Moisi and Johannes Shabangu. Known as the “Sasol Three”, they were accused of carrying out attacks on a police station and on a Sasol oil-from-coal plant in June, 1980. The three men, all members of the ANC and its military wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), were charged with high treason, terrorism, and additionally with establishing underground bases of resistance and of being in possession of arms, ammunition, and explosives. A man who was allegedly captured in the South African Defence Force raid on ANC residences in Matola, Mozambique, in January 1981, gave evidence for the State and claimed that he had been one of the group who had been responsible for the ANC attack on the Sasol installation. He identified the three accused as also being involved. Defense of the three accused claimed that violence had been used on Tsotsobe to force him to “point out” where he had allegedly committed his offenses. A security policeman giving evidence for the State claimed that Tsotsobe had voluntarily shown him various places, including the Booysens police station. Tsotsobe told the court how he had been repeatedly assaulted by security policemen in a Soweto police station “truth room”. He was stripped, handcuffed, and beaten with a length of hosepipe by the security police. A wet sack was also pulled tightly over his head preventing him from breathing properly. This treatment was continued for three days and on the fourth day he had broken down and admitted taking part in the Booysens police station attack, in bombing the Diepkloof WRAB offices, and in gutting of Uncle Tom’s Hall. In August of 1981, Tsotsobe and the others were convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. Upon hearing the sentence, Moisi turned to the spectator’s gallery, gave a clenched-fist salute, and along with Tsotsobe and Shabangu, began to sing a freedom song. An appeal against their death sentences was made, supported by an international campaign joined by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In June of 1983, Tsotsobe’s death sentence, along with that of the others, was commuted to life. They are serving that sentence on Robben Island. ___________ The source of this biographical information is International Defence and Aid Fund’s monthly publication Focus, various issues from 1980-1983. We appreciate their permission to use this material.